Mikel Arteta has admitted that his Arsenal team "weren't good enough" during their 2-2 draw with Sunderland on Saturday night, but praised their resilience for coming from behind.
The Gunners fell behind to a Dan Ballard goal in the first half, the first time they have conceded a goal in over 13 hours of football, but fought back to lead 2-1 thanks to goals from Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard. However, a 94th-minute Brian Brobbey equaliser saw the points shared at the Stadium of Light.
The result leaves Arsenal seven points clear of Manchester City ahead of their clash with Liverpool on Sunday, but after leading so late on, fans in north London will feel like it is a missed opportunity.
Arteta: Arsenal 'Not Good Enough'
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Arsenal were looking to create a new club record of going nine games without conceding a goal, but Ballard's first-half rocket saw that come to an end, and goalkeeper David Raya was also forced to make a number of big saves during the game too.
When speaking to BeIN Sports after the game, Arteta was asked about the result and admitted that he felt the team was "not good enough" with dealing with Sunderland's strengths in the game, but credited their resilience to come away with a point.
"I haven't seen the action again, but that decision has been made, it's 2-2.
"We concede two very similar goals, and they [Sunderland] are really good at what they do, and the way they create chaos and play the long balls, and the flicks, and the plays that they commit forward.
"We concede very two similar goals, which is not good enough from ourselves, but this team showed an incredible resilience and courage to go back from that result, to score the equalizer, to score a second one that we were pushing.
"And even though, at the end, we consider we have a massive chance as well at the end, to win it. So I can only be proud of the team. "There are things to improve. It shows you how difficult it is. What we've done in the last 10 games, winning 10 games in a row and not conceding goals, because it's a really, really tough league."
Arsenal have had an excellent season so far, winning all four of their Champions League games so far without conceding a goal, while also conceding just five times in the Premier League after Saturday's game with the Black Cats.
Arteta is looking to lead Arsenal to their first title since 2004, and their first trophy since winning the FA Cup in 2020 this season.